One of my first blog entries last spring was called 4+ Things I Definitely Don’t Need. After a little detour to The Land of Reasonably Priced Objects, my love for the superfluous returns with a vengeance in today’s post, where I’m covering possibly the most frivolous thing I have ever bought.

Matches in themselves are of course extremely functional items, but one would be hard-pressed to claim that these luxuriously scented, 22 cm long Cire Trudon matches that cost 15 euros a box are essential for mankind’s survival. Nobody NEEDS matches like these. That said, I don’t understand why some people feel personally offended when others spend money on things like that. I can afford them. It’s my own money. I find matches – even expensive matches – much less objectionable than, let’s say, guns or boring diamonds or excessive contouring. I never roll my eyes when people buy cars and TVs, things that I consider absolutely unnecessary and that cost WAY more than matches. So can I just enjoy my matches in peace, please?

It’s not only the Cire Trudon matches I’ve got a thing for, I like long matches in general. Jo Malone has nice ones, as does the Senteurs d’Ailleurs perfume shop in Brussels. They look elegant, make lighting scented candles easy and… Well, I just like them. But Cire Trudon isn’t the world’s oldest candle maker for nothing and their matches are in a league of their own – longer and more refined, in amazingly illustrated boxes and they smell beautiful. If you want, you can scent a drawer or even a small room by leaving the box open.

There are five different scents, I own Madeleine that is a pretty classic fragrance with iris, rose, jasmine and leather. It’s about seven times more sophisticated than most things you can buy at an average perfume counter. Abd el Kader shares the scent with Trudon’s bestselling candle – a very nice green tea and mint combination. If I could choose again, I would probably go for the tobacco and leather smell of Ernesto, but it wasn’t available when I did my Christmas shopping (these matches make excellent small gifts for people who always have nicer things than you).

I will of course get a box of Ernesto at some point. Or two. I’ve got all that money to spend that I’m not spending on a TV.